"Rocket Man" -- A better song out there in '72?

I purchased "Rocket Man" and "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" off iTunes after hearing the latter on tv show my wife was watching. I have liked the latter song for a long time, I can't think of a more evocative song from that time frame (summer '72). Man, did Elton produce some major tuneage or what? He had a great band, the bass playing is killer, so is the drumming. But I'm thinking the production (Gus Dudgeon) is what really did it. (I just went and checked Gus' wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Dudgeon and learned that he called the Elton's "Caribou" album "a piece of crap," and I find some comfort in that opinion because I think by then Sir Reg was starting to lose the plot after his absolute masterwork "Good Bye Yellow Brick Road.") This song is so damn dense with atmosphere. It's not really even a piano song or keyboard son, it's really acoustic guitar and some freaky geetar noising from Davey Johnstone, another monster player. The piano playing on it is really perfect, just the right amount.

I will grant you, this song does rip off Bowie's astronaut song, both in subject matter and in manner. But for some reason it's just as good, if a bit less artistic (maybe, maybe not) and original. At that point we were still trudging around on that sandy orb up there, and if you do not think the best music of this an many generations was a result of the boundaries being pushed up there in the Heavens, then THINK AGAIN! '68 to '73? When was the last moonwalk? December '72, that's when. WhadayathinkofTHAT?

Was there a more exquisite song out that summer of '72? you tell me. "Take it Easy" was a pretty good one, that song does me in too. Both of them things sound just as good coming over a 2-inch speaker (or single earphone) as on my hi-fi stereo!